To green or not to green: Establishing the economic value of green infrastructure investments in The Wicker, Sheffield (original) (raw)
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The attribution of economic value to landscape resources is fraught with technical and methodological difficulties. Little is mandated in UK planning policy explaining how economic value should be established. As a result landscape resources have been undervalued, underfunded and marginalised in favour of larger grey infrastructure development. The UK NEA however outlined for the first time a national scale economic evaluation of environmental resources. The Valuing Attractive Landscapes in the Urban Economy (VALUE) Interreg IVB project examined this issue by establishing a toolkit of economic evaluation methodologies for green investments across North-West Europe. Focussing on the returns that investments in green infrastructure can deliver to cities and city-regions, the VALUE project identified economic values that can be used to influence future policy-making. This paper presents an analysis of VALUE street tree investments in Manchester, UK. Using a contingent valuation survey preferences for green investments and associated willingness to pay (WTP) for them were generated. Analysis suggests that willingness to pay is directly related to the size and greenness of the proposed investment and participant perceptions of added value. 75% of respondents were WTP for investments in green infra-structure. Analysis indicates increased WTP and a marked preference for larger and physically greener investments. Payment values ranged from £1.46 to 2.33, a 59.5% variance, between the preferred investment option and the status quo. The paper concludes that although green investments vary in size and function, respondents consider the specific and wider value of green infrastructure resources when asked how much they willing to pay to fund and maintain such investments.
Proceedings of envecon 2014: Applied Environmental Economics Conference,
"The economic value of green infrastructure in urban areas has a complex history of partial evaluations and assessments. As a consequence the process of valuation has, in many locations, been relegated within decision-making. Attempts to valorise intangible or intrinsic values economically led the environmental sector to limit its attempts to establish monetary values on environmental resources. However, as the financial implications of investment have become increasingly central in decision-making advocates have started to engage more directly with economic valuation tools. Utilising cost-benefit analysis, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation methods Green Infrastructure researchers and practitioners have started to actively valorise environmental resources. The success of this process though has historically been undermined due to a lack of robustness in the values generated. Such limitations influenced the development, and subsequent use, of visualisations to support valuation. 2D and 3D images/photomontages are now being used to provide a platform to generate more robust valuations based on ‘realistic’ depictions of investments. The Interreg IVB project Valuing Attractive Landscapes in the Urban Economy (VALUE) made use of advanced visualisation methodologies. VALUE investigated the economic value of investment in Green Infrastructure in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK using benefit transfer, social CBA, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation. The VALUE project also integrated 2D (photo-visualisation montage) and 3D visualisations. The VALUE research in Manchester used visualisations depicting street tree investments scenarios1, whilst in Sheffield 3D visualisations evaluated two alternative sets of investments2 concentrated on an urban river corridor (Blonk Street) and a wider neighbourhood plan (Nursery Street). Visualisations were used in conjunction with willingness to pay (WTP) surveys to explore the willingness of people to pay for various forms of urban greening. The outcomes highlighted WTP values of £1.46-£2.33 for five scenarios in Manchester, and £4.28-£10.56 for Blonk Street (three scenarios) and £3.87-£29.28 for Nursery Street (four scenarios) in Sheffield. In each case visibly greener options returned higher WTP values. Assessments of each location were based on complex socio-economic-environmental perceptions where multi-functionality, accessibility and aesthetics quality have significant impacts on WTP; each of which is easier to define when high quality visualisations are used. 2D and 3D visualisations provided increased scope to the valuation process in Manchester and Sheffield respectively. As a result the focus and details of each investment could be controlled, enabling expectations to be more effectively managed through accurate representations and sufficient background information (realistic-hypothetical development scenarios). Respondents reported that visualisations acted as a central element in facilitating WTP valuation, with positive responses to each set of scenarios being reported (90%+). The policy implications of this research focus on the economic returns that Green Infrastructure provides for Local Authorities. Although it is difficult to extrapolate trans-locational added value, the valuations highlighted continuity between WTP, urban greening and visualisations. Furthermore, due to the complex socio-economic and physical interactions the valuations provide an insight into the potential transferable value between areas of limited economic viability and those with higher existing residual values."
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Urban green space constitutes a crucial element of all cities. It affects the overall physical and built environment of the city, making cities attractive places not only to their own citizens, but also to external visitors and investment. In this respect, urban green space may have a role to play for economic development in terms of improving the quality of urban life, building a desirable 'city image' and advancing the position of the city in respect to its competitiveness. This article draws on a questionnaire survey conducted in 11 European cities in order to explore positions and perceptions with regard to urban green space. Emphasis is given to issues related to the economic aspects of urban green, including an evaluation of the demand for urban green and its importance for economic development. The survey explores attitudes towards alternative uses of urban green space and addresses the -critical for land use policy -issue of financing its provision, maintenance and expansion.
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